Her step brother

A guy was standing at the gate and as Grace came out, he stepped forward and hugged her. Ava felt frustrated, she couldn't understand why she felt upset when she saw her with someone else. She walked away from there followed by her other friends.

"Lucas! What the hell are you doing?" She said as she pushed him away.

"Can't I hug my sister?" He said in a teasing voice that sounded disgusting to her.

"You know I don't like it." She said and started walking.

"And you know I love creating trouble for you." He said and started following her.

"I just wanted to check if you were dating anyone, but you aren't, cause no one came forward to push me away." He said and she was stressed out, already because of Ava and now he also came to increase the stress.

"Why are you here?" She asked him in a frustrated tone.

"I need money." He said, turned his head towards her, and continued, "Mom told me to take it from you."

"You know I don't have such a good job." She said and just wanted him to go away for she didn't have any extra money.

"I don't care, I need it by tomorrow or you have to talk to mom." He said and suddenly handed her his phone. She knew that he had already dialed her number so that she couldn't refuse at all. She took a deep breath and answered the phone.

"Hello, mom..." She said in a calm voice.

"How many times do I have to tell you don't call me that when your dad isn't around. I'm not your mother." The lady on the other end said and was offended.

"Yes, aunt," She said in a low voice.

"I sent Lucas to you because he needed money and you clearly know you have no right to refuse. I raised you for so many years so now you have to pay back." She said in an ordering tone. Grace was helpless because if she said no one more time, they'd tell her father about it with several fake rumors and he'd become even more distant from her.

"I'll do it." She said helplessly.

"Good, now get lost." That lady said harshly and ended the call.

"Having fun, now," Lucas asked sarcastically as he tilted his head. "You'd better not offend me, Grace." He said and started walking.

"I gotta go to a part-time job." She said and he stopped walking and turned around.

"Just get out of my sight." He said with dark expressions.

She walked away quietly and was now missing her mother. Mia, the lady she talked to on the phone, was her stepmother, whom her father married after her mother passed away from a long term disease. Lucas was Mia's son and hated Grace as much as Mia did. Although she said that she raised her but she never treated her like her own daughter and asked her to do all the work and used to beat her. Her father used to stay away from home due to his work and thus didn't know what was happening to her. He believed what they told him about her but still loved her no matter what. When he told Grace to go away from home to study, she smiled and agreed to his request even though she knew that they wanted to throw her out. Grace didn't have many friends even as a child cause either they bullied her because she didn't have a mother or Lucas told them lies about her to scare them away. Thus she became habitual to staying alone and Ava was a light in her dark life. But she was afraid of getting close to her for she feared that Ava will get hurt because of her, just like everyone else around her did.

She went to the cafe and asked her boss if she could work overtime that day because she had a gap of a few hours in both of her jobs. He agreed but was kind of worried because she looked listless. She worked for a long time and when it ended she went straight away to the grocery store. She asked her boss lady if she could do extra work to get more money that day and she agreed and told her to do the organizing work that day. She agreed and started doing the work. Although she was tired already she still did it and had to lift a lot of heavy stuff. She got off work at midnight that day and was completely tired but had earned the money that he had asked for.

As she got out of the store she got a call from Lucas. She answered the call and found out that he was in a bar and was completely wasted. She rushed to the location that his friend sent her. As she reached there, she found him sitting on a table with his head dropped. She walked up to him and tried to wake him up. His friends greeted her and went outside. In all that chaos, what she didn't notice was that Ava and her friends were also in that bar. Ava noticed her entering and kept her eyes on her. She noticed that she was going towards the guy who came to the college earlier that day. She was kinda upset after seeing her worry about someone else and walked out of the bar after telling an excuse to her friends.

Lucas woke up and pushed Grace away after he realized the situation. He slowly got up and was swaying so she supported him but she pushed her again. She fell on a table and was hurt. The waiter supported her and she thanked him. She followed Lucan who was now about to go out.

"Lucas, wait for me." She said and supported him.

"Get away bitch." He said and slapped her.

"What is wrong with you?" She asked and was calm because it was his normal behavior.

"Dad doesn't pay attention to me because of you, he doesn't give me any money. Why the hell didn't you just die along with your mother?" He said and kicked her.

He walked out of the bar and his friends, who were still outside took him with them. She was on the floor and had tears in her eyes. Her arms were hurt and her ankle was sprained. She ran away as someone tried to approach her. Ava returned a few seconds later and her friends told her about what had happened earlier.

"Oh man, that nerd has some shitty past," Harry exclaimed as he laughed after Emily narrated the whole incident to Ava.

"So you mean, he's her brother?" Ava asked and couldn't believe what she had imagined.

"Yeah, and he slapped her so hard that she fell on the floor. Poor girl must have been hurt badly." Elijah said and couldn't believe how someone could do this to their sister.

"He even cursed her that she should have died with her mother," Harry added.

"Maybe he's her stepbrother," Emily said suddenly and they agreed.

"I gotta go," Ava said suddenly and rushed out of the bar.